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Not that this is a wrong or totally ineffectual thing to do for a political leader who purports to represent workers; it will certainly resonate with his base. But Walmart can turn right around and say that it has to keep costs low to counter the threat of giants like Amazon, which with their simplified marketing ploy of enabling online ordering, as short as two-day home delivery and markedly reduced costs, are threatening Walmart's market share. And that to lose market share is to go in the direction of contraction, rather than the imperative under this system of constant expansion, and towards collapse. So then, we go with hat in hand tremulous outrage to Amazon - or whatever innovating competitor is next-in-line to steal a march on market domination and therefore market share.

And this is about as far as any major candidate in this insanely protracted presidential campaign is likely to get - New Deal solutions all over again to unprecedented levels of looting the common weal and looming economic, social and environmental crisis - in the absence of an overwhelmingly powerful surge of worldwide worker awareness, organizing and solidarity. To match the increasingly informed, integrated and organized challenge of globally insurgent concentrated and centralized capital.

https://tinyurl.com/y6jk4zcq

Bernie Sanders delivered this resolution request from the floor today at the meeting of Walmart's board of directors:

Let me thank Walmart employee Kat Davis for introducing this resolution, and it states, and I quote,

Resolved, shareholders of Walmart urge the board to adopt a policy of promoting significant representation on employee perspectives among corporate decision makers by requiring that the initial list from which candidates are chosen by the nominating and governance committee include hourly associates. The policy should provide that any third party consultant asked to furnish an initial list that includes such candidates. End of quote.

Madame Chair, the issue that we are dealing with today is pretty simple. Walmart is the largest private employer in America and is owned by the Walton family, the wealthiest family in the United States, worth approximately 175 billion dollars. And yet, despite the incredible wealth of its owners, Walmart pays many of its employees starvation wages. Wages are so low that many of these employees are forced to rely on government program like food stamps, Medicaid and public housing in order to survive.

Frankly, the American people are sick and tired of subsidizing the greed of some of the largest and most profitable corporations in this country.

They are also outraged by the grotesque level of income inequality in America, as demonstrated by the CEO of Walmart making a thousand times more than the average Walmart employee. Last year, Walmart made nearly 10 billion dollars in profit it paid its CEO over 20 million dollars in compensation and it has authorized over 20 billion dollars in stock buy backs, which will benefit its wealthiest stockholders.

Surely, with all of that, Walmart can afford to pay all of its employees a living wage of at least 15 dollars an hour.

And that is not a radical idea, because many of Walmart's competitors, like Amazon, Costco and Target have already moved in that direction.

Further Walmart could give a voice to its workers by allowing them seats on the board of directors. The concerns of workers, not just stockholders, shouldbe part of board decisions.

Today, with the passage of this resolution, Walmart can strike a blow against corporate greed and a grotesque level of income and wealth inequality that exists in our country.

Please do the right thing. Please pass this resolution.

Thank you very much.



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